Overall Rating

Wayside House, Inc. - Women's Treatment Center
Philosophy

Established in 1954, Wayside House, Inc. is a well respected Minnesota non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with 60 years of experience helping women overcome addiction and mental illness. It is among the nation’s oldest treatment centers devoted exclusively to the gender-specific needs of women. We provide a full spectrum of recovery services to help women achieve long-term sobriety.

Areas of Specialization

Residential Treatment
Residential treatment programs provide housing (food and meals) in addition to treatment for substance abuse. Some facilities offer only short-term residential treatment, some offer only long-term treatment and others offer both, ranging from a few days to many months, based on patient needs.

Dual Diagnosis/ Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment
These two terms describe a person who is not only addicted to drugs or alcohol, but also has a mental or emotional illness, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc. Facilities that treat patients with dual-diagnosis or co-occurring disorders provide psychiatric treatment in addition to drug and alcohol rehabilitation services.

Facility Highlights

Parenting Groups

Adult Basic Education

Recovery Maintenance

Rehabs.com 360 Guide

Review by Rehabs.com Contributors

ABOUT WAYSIDE HOUSE, INC., WOMEN’S TREATMENT CENTER

Supporting Minneapolis women since 1954, Wayside House provides holistic, individualized services to help women with co-occurring disorders to recover from chemical addiction. The Women’s Treatment Center is a residential program in the St. Louis Park suburb of Minneapolis, Minn. and is affiliated with a range of Wayside programs including housing and employment assistance, recovery maintenance, health care referrals, adult basic education, and parenting classes.

TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT

Women in the residential program may participate in 30-day intensive treatment or a more typical 90-day residence, followed by 12 weeks of non-residential aftercare. The facility’s highly structured approach to recovery includes in-house Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings and holistic treatment designed for each individual woman’s needs. Evidence-based modalities include dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT).

When each woman enters the addiction treatment center, she is assigned a counselor and connected with a senior peer resident. Passes to leave the facility and use of personal vehicles are allowed at some stages of treatment. Exercise and healthy eating are encouraged.

Aftercare options available through the Wayside House organization include 12-Step meetings, mental health care groups and individual therapy, trauma recovery therapy, and family support groups.

STAFF CREDENTIALS

The staff includes licensed drug and alcohol abuse counselors, many of whom have years of sobriety in their own substance abuse recovery, as well as licensed mental health professionals, nursing staff, and recovery coaches.

ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES

Residents stay in shared bedrooms and eat together as a group. Pet dogs –– leashed and under 40 pounds –– may visit clients on-site. Wayside House, Inc., offers acupuncture, self-help and parenting classes, and housing referral services. The organization also has an affiliated Family Treatment Center.

WHAT ALUMNI SAY

Both alumni polled by Rehabs.com to date shared their successes. Alum K.S. wrote that the program “kept me sober longer than any other” and L.R. wrote that it “Helped me recover.” Each alum gave the facility’s accommodations a four out of five-star rating. Impressions of staff qualities were mixed. L.R. gave three-star ratings for counselor availability and training and four stars for staff support. K.S. characterized the staff as “nice, they are strict but effective,” and rated the staff's level of training and experience five out of five stars.

On Google, six reviewers to date rated Wayside an average 3.3 out of five stars, with three positive reviews, one mixed, and two negative.[1] Although one alum wrote the facility's leaders "care about staff, clients, and family members," another complained of poor treatment from staff.

WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY

Four loved ones polled by Rehabs.com to date gave Wayside mixed to positive ratings, rating its cleanliness and affordability four out of five stars (the highest ratings), family participation and counseling options 3.25 stars, and holistic treatment offerings three stars.

Loved ones expressed concerns about communication with Wayside. One parent, J.S., wrote: “It is about impossible to talk with any staff other than the social worker during day hours and not on weekends.” In another review published on Rehabs.com, G.C. noted: “I was not contacted by my family members counselor, even though there was a release.” GC also wrote that Wayside “was not welcoming to family.”

Loved ones did value the available activities, including life-skills development and opportunities to earn rewards. An anonymous reviewer wrote: “visiting hours/rules are fair, ample staff available for resident needs.” A second anonymous review noted that staff are “Strict with everyone/fair, staff recognize behaviors very quickly & address it.”

WHAT STAFF SAY

On Glassdoor, one current employee to date rated Wayside a perfect five stars,[2] writing that the staff treated its women clients fairly: "Prevalent belief that women are valuable, can achieve wellness, and can manage their addiction problems with quality care." They did mention that resources were limited, but that overall the facility had a "Tough environment but worth every second."

On Google, one former staff member to date rated the facility three out of five stars, echoed an alum's criticisms of staff's treatment of clients and each other.

FINANCING

Wayside House women’s treatment is funded in part through state chemical dependency funds. Coverage is determined by a Rule 25 assessment provided for each client. Wayside also accepts insurance and private pay.

User Reviews

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LA

Treatment Effectiveness

Accommodations & Amenities

Meals & Nutrition

There are so many things wrong with this place. I will write a summary:
1. Shutting people off from the real world. Yes, some people need to sever ties to get clean but the fact is, having people hide from their life does not aid in recovery. This program puts people in an intensive 3 month bubble and then essentially thrown out in the real world without proper tools and coping mechanisms in place because they've been isolated. Most people I know relapsed immediately.
2. Forcing people to get on food stamps to supplement their budget while the higher ups there are driving Mercedes. It's lowering and degrading. If you do not get on food stamps, you're forced to pay on top of your stay money for food.
3. People getting sober are going to have issues. Taking them to a psychiatrist and medicating them when they haven't been clean for a week is silly.. You should not have 40 women in line for "meds" every night.
4. Nasty staff. There's not much else to say on that. Most of the staff, counselors, food staff and medical staff are rude and lower the tone dramatically.
5. Treating women like children. Making them write essays when a person left the light on. I know they say it's for "discipline" and establishing rules, but ... really. Come on.
Summary. The only way you will get clean is on your own and with the help of a supportive group - whether it be 12 step, friends or family. This program will not get you clean. The people that do stay clean after this program already made the conscientious choice to stay clean, and the Wayside House has very little to do with that.

I have been sober for a year now. I give a lot of credit to D. She definitely gave us the skills and knowledge to stay sober. I looked forward to her class. The food was not always good as in kale wraps and not very much meat.lots of noodles and rice. When it was good we ran out of food before residents got their food. Happened a lot and felt staff should not be allowed to be in line to eat and get to be in line before residents. The weekend cook was stealing all the bakery goods donated by bureaus. She would get a food cart several trips to her van. We would watch her leave maybe a cake or just enough for residents to argue over for snack. I was not helped with finding housing my counselor would not let me miss my job in the kitchen when I was going to be viewing a place so missed out on it. I had a counselor who gave you a half hour window to meet with her clients a couple days a week and I was usually working in the kitchen during the half hour or her door would be closed and we were not allowed to knock. Stupid. A lot of people get several chances allowed to come back after being gone usingso disheartening for residents working hard to stay straight.

Wayside from my experience it was very helpful,staff's are very understandable and easy to speak with..they helped me learn to except who i really am and if other's don't like it well it's not your problem..the counselors are wonderful they don't push you to open up their understanding..yes rules their are in their there for a reason..they had opened arms very kind and loving environment...

great extracurricular activities, visiting hours/rules are fair, ample staff available for resident needs too many people that I know that have been there have lapsed so I dont believe the treatment is effective enough nothing more

Strict with everyone/fair, staff recognize behaviors very quickly & address it. Let you earn trust and reward you with weekends & overnights passes Counselor was fresh out of college and was never an addict. Found it difficult to connect. Almost felt she w's judgmental. It is worth your time if you're ready to sober up

Official Facility Response

I appreciate your feedback, and if there are any specifics about the relationship with your counselor that would be helpful to our program development, please give me a call!

Many strengths. They have the clients earn points to use toward purchases which is neat. They try working on life skills. They allow cell phones at times. Like many co-occurring facilities, Wayside does not treat mental health issues well. My daughter was discharged for the very reason that got her there, her behavior. I believe behavioral problems need to be treated and not get rid of the client who is in need of help. It is about impossible to talk with any staff other than the social worker during day hours and not on weekends.

Official Facility Response

I'm sorry you had this experience. We are continually working to improve our services and our approach with both clients and family members. If you would like to give me specific feedback to help inform our growth, please do give me a call!

My family member choose to stay. I would not have. It was not welcoming to family. I was not contacted by my family members counselor, even though there was a release. No messages returned from any staff. No messages passed along to family from client phone. If you like or need a lock down, structured facility this is for you.

Official Facility Response

I'm sorry you had this experience. We are continually working to improve our services and our approach with both clients and family members. If you would like to give me specific feedback to help inform our growth, please do give me a call!

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Rehabs.com collects thousands of User Reviews weekly to collect the most up-to-date information possible on treatment facilities across the country. The opinions shared in User Reviews are expressly those of the user, and do not reflect the thoughts, beliefs, or opinions of Rehabs.com. Per our policies, we do not remove User Reviews at the request of a facility.

Treatment facilities can and are encouraged to respond directly to any User Review, positive or negative. In fact, visitors are more likely to favorably consider a facility that actively responds to criticism (and praise!) to one that doesn’t.

Please leave your Facility Response below using a verified facility-specific email address. A representative from Rehabs.com will vet your response within two business days to ensure it meets our standards for public posting. Rehabs.com retains the right to contact anyone who leaves a review via our website to confirm authenticity.

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